To Cradle Mt. for a short while

It’s Wednesday, 6th July 2005. I’ve just arrived home after a short trip in the bushes. I went bushwalking, where I did a fair bit of hiking too, for 4 days 3 nights in the western part of Tasmania, an area commonly referred to as ‘the most rugged and unexplored wilderness on the entire continent’.

It feels good to see life once again now that I’m back in Hobart. You can’t imagine how delighted I was upon seeing bright lights from a distant, and as we drove past shops and “busy” restaurants along Elizabeth St, seeing larger human population loitering the area and people all dressed up (for what I would now think it as) ‘fashionably’ made me feel like it’s been a long time since I was cut off from life in Hobart. And then I realized that being in the bush and highlands have really made me appreciative of the Hobart city, a feeling that hardly exists as this municipality that represents the capital of Tasmania is so damn dull!!

It’s strange that I could actually appreciate life in Hobart so much now when I hardly appreciate the low-rise buildings, the uninteresting shops – that are not only limited in number but also sell nothing much but local products and goods of local interest, the old buses and expensive taxi fares – that make up Tassies’ public transport and whose services are quite rather unreliable, the aged and dying – that fill up the city more frequently than the active young who are left quite unfashionable, and the clean streets – that are frequently littered with dirty looking male hippies appearing pathetic and constantly looking for shelter; in other words, I could hardly appreciate the same old little town in which I could easily complete window shopping within a very short time and one that turns from dull to dead when the sun sets.


A city I once found so characterless yet now seems all pre-occupied with characteristics of an urban area – how unusual can that be! I must have started seeing things the way the locals do, especially with the fact that I have just arrived from the bushes!!

Anyhow I feel very happy upon my return – happy to be back in Hobart, happy to have gone and returned in one piece, happy to have lived in the bushes and being so close to wildlife, happy to have gone to see the only region I was left with to visit as I have traveled to all the other parts of Tasmania, and probably happiest of all for having completed a trip to Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair, a World Heritage Area situated in the western Tasmania, a place I have wanted to see so much since I first came to Tas.

My stay in the mountain was a great experience. The weather was awesome though it changed very frequently; yet frequent weather change had made my bushwalking experience more interesting than it ever did.

I did a couple of short walks – some half day walks, some few minutes walk depending on the number of sidetracks I had followed, and with just these short walks I came across picturesque sceneries, abundant wildlife and a vast weather change from cloudy to rain to sunshine and then windy and cold within just the few hours walk, within a small land area. It was cool and amazing but the whole time I was there on the mountain I was also hoping that it would snow; yet it didn’t.

There were also so many native animals that I met, that came to me, and that I fed – even though I was aware that I was not allowed to (feed these wild native animals) for many obvious reasons! Well, I’m not an animal lover but I guess it was all too tempting to show them a little kindness, besides encountering native wildlife such as the wallabies, Tasmanian pademelons and possums is rather rare given my day to day schedule which requires me to remain in this urban suburb, hence distancing myself from these native wildlife that are not only nocturnal animals but also are usually shy and unfriendly to us, human beings.

Yes, i have enjoyed my short trip in the bushes and would definitely love to revisit the place whenever possible.